by Tom | Apr 24, 2010 | Marketing, Neighbors House, San Antonio Real Estate Market, San Diego Real Estate Market
This is the last big weekend before the Federal Tax Credit expires on next Friday, April 30 so we are now in what I consider Last Call for this years hottest real estate sales period. Undoubtedly we are pulling future demand forward as everyone looking to make a purchase this year will try and have something under contract by next Friday. As many folks work during the week , today and tomorrow will be the last chance to get out and find something. The question remains though, what will happen to the real estate market after this credit expires? San Antonio will be o.k. but I’m not sure about less stable markets.
Sellers should be extremely cautious accepting offers this week as many buyers out there are simply not qualified, even if they are waving a “pre-approval” letter, as I personally found out several weeks ago. To get the $8000 back you just have to purchase an $80,000 house so we arent talking about the strongest buyers out there anyway. Couple that with a buyer going FHA and asking the seller to contribute 6k in closing costs sends up a red flag to me that they don’t even have the 3% to put down. Buyers not having any skin in the game simply shouldn’t be allowed to purchase a house in my opinion. It’s been said that some buyers are even tying up several properties at a time to make sure they get one that sticks so they get their free government handout. In this case the other sellers will get left out to dry with their properties going back on the market after the tax credit expires and in what could be the slower summer months. How many of these tax credit sales will wind up being next years foreclosures?
Neighbor’s House is under contract again, we had a back up offer so when the last buyer couldn’t arrange financing we went to plan b. Maybe 3rd time will be a charm, someones eventually going to be the lucky homeowner with the Coolest house in Mahncke Park.
by Tom | Jan 16, 2009 | San Diego Real Estate Market
Here’s a good one for the bubble bloggers out there. To illustrate how far the real estate market has fallen in Southern California, our Flip from 2004 seen here on our site “The Probate House” just sold as a short sale for 345k.
We bought it in Fall 2004 for 375k as an extreme fixer and sold it Spring 2005 for 500k. That’s a 31% price reduction off the ‘05 peak. It’s pretty crazy that people were paying 500k for a tiny 1000 square foot 3/1 with a 1-car garage.
You could get a mansion here in Texas for half a million. The buyer obtained a Subprime adjustable loan with 100% financing. In fact, his “creative” realtor/mortgage broker tried to overwrite the contract for 525k and take out the extra 25k at the close of escrow for himself telling his foreign national client it was part of his fee.
The poor buyers almost got stuck with it until our realtor blew the whistle on him and called the DA’s office. He was prosecuted and went to jail for pulling that scam multiple times. I wonder if they confiscated his brand new black Porsche.
Here’s what the house looks like now 4 years later and worth 31% less. At least the palm trees I planted still look good. That’s close to 35% Market Crash in San Diego!
by Tom | Jan 12, 2009 | San Antonio Real Estate Market, San Diego Real Estate Market
The SABOR 2009 Housing Forecast was recently presented. They do it every year and hold it downtown in the fancy Omni Hotel conference room. All the bigwig Realtors and Builders give their spiel on the San Antonio Real estate market. Remember, these are Realtors painting this picture for us so take it with a grain of salt as with anything coming out of the NAR.
They stated the following in their presentation, which I have posted here on my site. Sales were down 18% in 2008 compared to 2007. Down 23% from peak in 2006. A bright note they claim is that inventory is not however growing.
This seems odd to me because as I drive around all I see are For Sale signs. Fewer sales but less homes being listed for sale with 17,359 units sold in 2008. Months of supply are up at around 8 but only due to the fewer sales. The average days on the market for 2008 was up to 87 and that number doubles when you get north outside loop 1604.
Foreclosures were up 23% compared to 2007. The median sales price stayed flat at around 155k. According to the head honcho’s San Antonio Prices are now stable and expected to stay stable through 2009.
The percentage price change per neighborhood can be found on the .pdf file presentation but most neighborhoods saw about 2% appreciation rate for 2008. There were reports in another earlier that SA was down 4% but that was comparing November 07 to November 08.
In a recent article from Yahoo titled 2009 Real Estate Forecast: Troubles Spread it states that some Texas cities could now also be in trouble like the rest of the US. It forecasts that Houston could drop 8.5% and San Antonio could see price drops of up to 10% in 2009.
The article then goes on to explain how severely damaged markets such as Boston, Orange County and our hometown San Diego could be reaching affordability levels seen before the boom and may level off. My wife ran across a thread on City-Data that asked all the California transplants how many of them would consider moving back now that homes were affordable and back down to 2001 prices. Honey, pack the bags and I’ll load up the tools in the truck!
As always, Location, Quality and Price will be key for our rehabs through the New Year.
